This Technical Reference Manual on Film Cameras is Beautiful – CP Book Club

Vetro Editions specializes in what they call “paper-made-cultural-artefacts.” What this means is they make really pretty books. Their latest book is no exception, and it’s an absolute treat for anyone whose interests land at the intersection of cameras and design. With perfectly balanced pages full of information and technical illustrations, it provides a veritable feast for both sides of the film shooter’s brain.

Written by Andrew Bellamy and with a forward by Impossible Project founder Florian Kaps, Analogue Photography Reference Manual for Shooting Film examines the technical side of cameras and photography with a definite focus on the mechanisms and fundamental functionality of film cameras. Designed with an eye toward the often wonderfully illustrated manuals that came with cameras in days past, the new book seeks to teach the reader everything necessary to use the amazing machines we film shooters love.

The basic components of a camera, depth-of-field, how a pentaprism works, scale focusing methodology – over its 192 pages, Analogue Photography dives into all of these concepts and much more. Sure, you could get a lot of this information from any camera manual made in the 1970s, but this book is more than that. It’s a love letter to the cameras we shoot and a beautifully made reminder of just how intricate and incredible these machines are.

The price, around $24, is surprisingly much lower than what we’re used to paying for specialty photo books.

Analogue Photography is being issued in a limited run of just 200 books, and can be ordered directly from the Vetro Editions website. Our contact at Vetro says orders are being filled as we speak, so it’s safe to assume that those 200 copies are now less than 200. If this book looks like something you’d enjoy browsing over a cappuccino, I’d suggest you get going.